'Very special': Jane Clohessy honoured ahead of first Ireland start

VERY SPECIAL: Jane Clohessy will make her first start for Ireland against Japan. Pic: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Rather than call her parents, Jane Clohessy sent the news to the family WhatsApp on Monday that she had been picked to make her first Ireland start against Japan today (2pm, live on IrishRugby+).

With her mother and father away in France, she was reluctant to disturb them by ringing but she needn't have worried - dad Peter, the Munster and Ireland legend, was quickest off the mark to dial her number for a congratulatory call.

“Yeah, that was very special, it was lovely,” she said. “He just said that he was very proud of me and massive congratulations and well done.” 

Despite Peter's achievements and Jane's own subsequent rise, her journey into the sport was far from conventional. There was a period when Peter did not envisage rugby becoming a part of her life.

Clohessy was one of only two girls who attended an under-10 session in Annacotty and, afterwards, her father suggested it was not for young girls.

It was almost a decade later when he urged her to give it another try, but she was concerned that she would be playing catch-up with her peers for too long and it took another four years before she fully committed to the game.

Even then, progress was not straightforward - a pre-season injury with Munster in 2021 was a real set-back but her breakthrough arrived two years later with the province, before she made her Ireland debut off the bench against Scotland in last year's Six Nations.

Clohessy missed out on last year’s World Cup squad but she still travelled to England with friends and attended several of Ireland's matches.

“A couple of times the girls I was with thought that I might have been a little upset watching the games, but it actually didn’t cross my mind once,” she insisted.

“I was just full of so much pride. I explained to the Irish girls when I met them after some of the games. I just said, ‘If I could bottle up what I saw today, free to see it from another lens, you’ve no idea what you’re doing and the effects you’re having on people.’ It was unbelievable, so I thoroughly enjoyed that.” 

Her older brother Luke also offered some perspective, telling her that perhaps everything had been happening too quickly.

“He said to me it was all happening too fast anyway,” she said, smiling. “He said, ‘you needed it to be slowed down’, so maybe he was right!” 

There were further obstacles this year when Clohessy suffered two fractures to the same arm, the second during the Six Nations. The break went through a screw in one of the plates inserted after her first injury, and she feared another opportunity might never come.

She was even told that removing the plates could mean the end of her career. However, she eventually returned to action and, having won her second cap as a replacement against Japan last Sunday, she now gets her chance from the start.

“It’s pretty spectacular, to be honest,” she said. “It’s been a whirlwind and I just feel very grateful and honoured to get that opportunity. I really didn’t expect to get my first start this soon but I’m really, really looking forward to it. I just feel very lucky.” 

The occasion should feel even more familiar in Cork, with a strong Munster contingent involved at Virgin Media Park. “It makes it even more special,” she said. “We’re so excited for that, to feel like we’re at home, that we’re really at home.” 

Japan pushed Ireland hard in last weekend’s 31-24 win for Ireland at Dexcom Stadium and Clohessy, who has been named in the second row, expects another demanding contest.

“We’ve a game plan put in place this week on the back of what we’ve learned and we think we’ve really executed it well actually in training," she remarked.

Whatever happens, she is fully confident that nerves won't trouble her - Peter was a front row forward who relished the biggest occasions and his daughter is convinced that she inherited his relaxed approach.

"I’m so excited, very honoured and privileged and just can’t wait to go do it," she declared.

“The whistle goes and you’re straight into it. I feel awful sorry for the girls that are stuck in their own head, I don’t know how I’d cope with that. I think it’s from my mam and dad, it stems from them.

“My dad’s extremely laid back and doesn’t panic, my mother is similar but she’s a mother at the end of the day, so she definitely panics a little bit more. I’d say it’s the way I’m wired.”